Is Chuck Smith Sitting on a Calvary Chapel Pastor Who Failed to Report a Child Abuser?

We've been reporting on the saga of Alex Grenier, son of Calvary Chapel Visalia pastor Bob Grenier, who has come forward to decry the child-abuser friendly atmosphere in the Calvary Chapel galaxy through tales of his own physical abuse at the fists of his father. The Calvary Chapel minions are freaked out of their mind, none more than founder Chuck Smith, who trashed Grenier during a private meeting AND from the pulpit.

Grenier, God bless his soul, isn't relenting, even in the face of anonymous Internet threats. Indeed, he's doubling down by publishing testimonials he presented to Chuckie that corroborate Grenier's own abuse, and revealing a case where a CCer went to Bob Grenier claiming sexual abuse--and Bob supposedly did nada.

. It wasn't some random pal of Grenier but a former Calvary Chapel Visalia board member, who says Bob Grenier confessed to his board that he once struck another son, Geoff, in the face. "Bob also told me many horrible things about Geoff, Alex and Paul, to justify their estrangement--my response was to advise him to not be vindictive, to forgive, to ask for forgiveness and to seek reconciliation," said the former board member, whose identity Alex is protecting. "I believe Bob's hard heart toward his sons, has led to great harm to the Church, the name of our Lord and to his personal ministry."

According to Alex, this testimonial moved Chuckie to tell him that he "believes" Alex's allegations of physical abuse at the fists of his father. But even more damning is another testimonial Alex says he presented to Chuckie and his lawyers during his fateful meeting, which hasn't been published but which Grenier provided to the Weekly.

In it, a mother writes that she went to Bob Grenier in 2000 for advice on what to do regarding her daughter's claims of sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. The woman (whose name the Weekly is withholding) claims that Grenier told her "that the important thing was to keep my marriage intact, that it was wrong to report [the abusive husband] to the District Attorney's office and I could no longer teach Sunday school or keep maintaining the grounds." She ignored Grenier's advice and went to the authorities, who arrested the abusive stepdad but had to release him due to statute of limitations.

An attempt to reach Bob Grenier for comment has yet to be returned, and Chuckie wouldn't talk to us even if the Rapture came, and he was assured a spot in heaven by talking to my damned soul. If the woman's charge is true, it wouldn't be surprising that Bob Grenier is still in charge of Calvary Chapel Visalia--after all, Chuckie has condoned sexual sinners before. Details to come...

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!